Consistent with an uptick in fraud in the trucking industry, a new scam email started making its rounds to motor carriers the week of July 29, 2024. The email, appearing to be from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), is personally addressed to the company officer on file with the FMCSA and demands that the registrant provide an update to their motor carrier authority via filing of a fraudulent version of Form 5889. This form asks for personal identifying information, such as your social security number and your DOT PIN number. Official versions of Form 5889 (and other forms from the FMCSA) will never request such sensitive information.

The communication claims that failure to respond within 24 hours will result in enforcement activity. Versions of the email appear like the image on this page.

To date, the scam emails have originated from fake email addresses like safety@fmcsa.gov, filing@fmcsa.gov, and compliance@fmcsa.gov, which are not official FMCSA contact accounts.

Official correspondence from the FMCSA will always come from a @dot.gov email address.

If you have already responded to a similar inquiry, you should immediately contact the FMCSA to request a reset of your DOT PIN number and to alert them of the suspicious activity.

[View source.]